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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. The ________________ market has crashed.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  12. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  15. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  18. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  19. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  20. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. net — in sport
  3. clip — to cut
  4. stock — goods
  5. stock — shares
  6. degree — from a university
  7. kick — in football
  8. net — for catching
  9. clip — a video
  10. wound — an injury
  11. kick — a thrill
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. clip — for paper
  14. trunk — of a car
  15. fan — to cool the air
  16. degree — an amount
  17. stock — a soup base
  18. net — after costs
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. kick — with a leg
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. trunk — of an elephant
  23. degree — temperature
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com